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Cleanup after Florence underway in Fort Mill

Crews are busy removing trees and other debris left behind by Florence.

FORT MILL, S.C. — Florence’s fury is leading to major clean-up efforts across the Charlotte area.

On Monday crews worked hard to remove downed trees and debris. Several locations in York County, S.C. were hit hard by the storm.

Charlotte crews say clearing the roads is their top priority and it’s a 24-hour operation.

In Fort Mill, crews were working most of the day to remove a massive tree that went into a real estate office, but by Monday evening a large chunk of the tree still remained.

“It’s going to be interesting to see how they chop this thing up,” says Kristin Vining, an employee at the real estate company. “We’re remarkably grateful no one was hurt.”

Just to the south in Rock Hill, NBC Charlotte found a large tree limb that went into a house. It appeared tree removal crews had not gotten to it yet. Meanwhile, organizers of the Festival in the Park were trying to clean up after Florence. Organizer, Fred Smith, remembers the damage from Hurricane Hugo.

“This was not nearly as severe as Hugo, this was more of water damage,” Smith told NBC Charlotte.

Back in Fort Mill, the tree and house impacted were each more than 100 years old.

“I think at this point it’s assessing the damage, and seeing if we rebuild or is it something that has to come down, I hope it doesn’t come down because the home is over a 100 years old and a lot of memories here,” says Vining.

Vining says insurance will pay for the damage to the building but not for tree removal, which will cost about $7,500.

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